DX7 page

In 1983 I bought one of the first DX7s to arrive in NZ. It had MIDI but initially I had nothing else to connect to, so I tried a loopback cable from MIDI out to MIDI in just to prove that it worked. As well as MIDI it had 16 note polyphony, velocity sensing and aftertouch, and of course the very different sounds of FM synthesis.This page is dedicated to things FM, particularly the Yamaha DX7 and DX7-II synthesisers.

Prediction

Any day now the Roland Juno 60 will once again fall out of favour, and the DX7 will come back into fashion!

Battery

I have been thinking about changing the battery in my DX7. I say thinking about it because it is still reading a good voltage (3.0v). I got it new in 1983. That's more than 25 years on the original Lithium battery. Wow!If you do need to replace one it is a CR2032, and the one with tabs is available from RS Components (stock no. 513-2871).Update (April 2011): I have now changed the battery in the DX7 (see my blog for more details), and did the DX7 II while I had the iron hot. Interestingly the DX7 II held its memory throughout the operation, so I didn't have to reload the patches.

FS1R

This sound module, released in 1998, was Yamaha's attempt to reinstate FM synthesis. Unfortunately that didn't happen and it was discontinued in 2000. The unit is, however, a beast. Although the basic spec. is fairly standard for the time (16 chan, 32 voice, 4 layers), the FM engine has 8 operators. It also uses a technology called Formant Shaping Synthesis that is like having uber-evelope generators to create sounds that vary in amplitude and tone over time. There are over 2000 parameters that can be adjusted. This allows for a lot of sonic territory to be covered, but programming the thing was difficult. Nowadays a freeware editor is available here: http://synth-voice.sakura.ne.jp/fs1r_editor_english.html